Gaia In The Porgony

In Hesiod’s Theogony, the Greek family relationships were often a repeated cycle between the husband, wife and their children. Based on the generations including Ouranos, all the men that came to rule automatically loathed their child, because they believed their children would take away their power. Since this behavior was similarly recurring every generation, the women were often forced to create wicked plans involving their children’s rise to power. The cycle of power, deceit and achievement created by the families in the first generation of Greek mythology became dominant characteristics that future generations would inherit.

Women in Ancient Greece were shown to be treated unfairly and less superior to men in homes, as wives, and in society as shown in Sophocles's play Antigone. They were looked down upon and thought of as less intelligent, as if they weren't really needed except for reproducing, doing housework, and taking care of children. Also, women were considered dangerous due to their emotions as they could hurt themselves or someone else. Antigone presents a variety of these ideas of how Women's roles played out in Ancient Greece.

As men generally have a more important role of being rulers, and being fierce. Such as, Cronus he rules over Earth, including his wife. Like Cronus who vows to his mother, Gaea, to overthrow his father Uranus, and after doing so he will free his brothers. However, Cronus goes back on his words to his Gaea and does not free her sons. Since Gaea is a woman, she has no power to challenge Cronus. Likewise, in fear of being overthrown by his children, he would commit great injustice Rhea. Cronus would forcefully take his children after they are born from Rhea and eat them alive. Even more, all the male Gods in the myth have the more dominant role in the world. Like Ares, who is the god of war, Zeus Ruler of all the Gods, Atlas who holds up the

The female characters portrayed in Aeschylus and Sophocles’ works have considerably different personalities and roles, yet those females all have the common weaknesses of being short-sighted and stubborn. They intensify the conflicts within their families while being inconsiderate of the impacts that they may bring to their nations and societies, which leads to consequences that they are incapable of taking responsibilities for. Clytemnestra and Antigone, two major characters in their respective author’s works, possess different motivations for their deeds in the stories. While Clytemnestra is driven by the desire of revenge to murder her husband Agamemnon, Antigone acts against Creon’s will and strives to properly bury her brother. Despite having different motivations and personalities, Clytemnestra and Antigone both commit

Gorgias’ Encomium of Helen is a beautiful, short, though enigmatic, speech that demonstrates sophist, Gorgias’ mastery of the art of rhetoric. In this speech, Gorgias attempts to accomplish two important tasks. One, by presenting a reasoned argument to his audiences, Gorgias tries to lift the blame off of Helen for causing the Trojan War. Two, by demonstrating his mastery of the art of rhetoric, Gorgias attempts to attract future consumers of his teaching of the art of rhetoric. This might also be very likely given that Gorgias is a sophist that traveled from one city to another looking for students that will purchase his ability to teach them rhetoric. Sophists were needed in Greek cities as they provided education in public speaking, a

In contrast to the father, the mother had a connection with their children, often leading to an overthrow of the husband. This materialistic love is easily shown in the myth of Demeter and Persephone. “ The joy of Demeter’s eternal lifetime was her daughter, Persephone, whom she had borne to Zeus “ ( Rosenberg Demeter 94). After Persephone was taken away, Demeter became infuriated and even “ withdrew her life sustaining powers,.. she broke the plows, killed oxen, and caused the earth to shrivel” ( Rosenberg Demeter 96). Seen from Demeter’s reaction to the situation, the bond between mother and child was very strong compared to that of the father. When Persephone returns, she takes comfort in her mother rather than her father. Children usually took the mother’s side and went against their father’s will. In the creation myth of the Greeks, there were two generations in which the mother wanted to protect her children from the grasps of the father. Gaea was afraid of what Uranus would do to their fearful children, and sought to protect them ( Rosenberg Creation 86). The wives of Cronus and Uranus both schemed the overthrow of their husbands,

However, Uranus was afraid that Cronus might overpower him and one day obtain all his power. Knowing this Uranus purposely tried to kill Cronus in multiply occasions, but Gaea would always protect him. One day Gaea and Cronus made a plan to have Cronus challenge Uranus and take over his power. So it happened, Cronnus challenged his father and was victorious during their battle and Uranus was left to rot (Bernard 1) "Now Cronus had become king of gods by killing his father Uranus” (Bernard 3). In both Greek and Roman Mythology, the relationship between parents and children are distorted, strained, and bizarrely transformed, because of their greediness for power and obsessiveness to be better than the other.

In Greek mythology, there is always a perpetual notion of power. The desire for power is associated with the father figure of a family. Furthermore, a father sets the tone for his family by setting rules and establishing their reputation. From the beginning of time, there has been angst in losing power, starting with the Earth and sky. Arising fear occurs when a father finds that one of his children is a threat to his throne. It also develops when a father realizes that since he sabotaged his own father, potentially his child could the same. Taking into consideration both of these cases, it is understood that a male parent in ancient Greek consciousness seeks a role having power. This thirst for power has resulted in the betrayal of wives and the attempt to destroy an upbringing of children. Through the fatherhood of Ouranos, Cronos, and Zeus, it is clear that their role is to exercise dominance, moreover keep away potential threats.

The bond between a mother and her son is typically strong as steel. There are two distinct relationships in The Gilgamesh and The Odyssey that showcase this. There is Ninsun who always looks after her son, Gilgamesh and devoted Penelope who worries about Telemachus. From the time a son is born all the way into his adult years, a boy nurtures a deep-rooted bond with his mom. Through this relationship it is influenced for the overall development of the child. This could explain why Gilgamesh has such an ego, his mother could have inflated him and in the story, his mother was always his safety net with looking after him and sending up his prayers. Telemachus is a bit more complicated, his mother seemed to be more off-hands approach where she did not really do anything, but worried. Penelope stepping back in Telemachus life (in terms of punishment) probably pushed Telemachus to become a man and order his mother around.

Birthmarked is a novel by writer Caragh M. O 'Brien. In this novel, Gaia is a midwife who has just delivered her first solo baby. When Gaia returns home, she discovers that her parents have been arrested by the Enclave, for unknown crimes. When Gaia hears rumours of her parents execution for their crimes, she sneaks into the Enclave to speak with her mother for one last time. However, on the way to find her mother, Gaia witnesses the execution of a pregnant woman and finds herself obliged to save the child. Gaia is quickly arrested and interrogated, where she is forced to choose between betrayal of her family and death. Gaia Stone has just turned sixteen, the age where the Enclave allows children to go into their own profession. Gaia has studied midwifery from her mother. As the novel opens, Gaia is delivering her first child. The child, a girl, is the mother 's first, making it that much more emotional for the mother, for Gaia to have to advance it to the Enclave. Gaia does her duty, however, because she is a loyal citizen serving the Enclave. As Gaia makes her way home she runs into Old Meg, her mother 's assistant. Old Meg tells Gaia that her parents have been arrested. Old Meg is going to the Dead Forest out of fear that she will be arrested next. Old Meg encourages Gaia to go with her, but Gaia refuses to leave without her family, Old Meg gives her a small bag that her mother wanted her to have. Gaia ties the bag to her thigh under her

In the ancient world, views of women were often derogatory, yet some viewed women as intelligent and powerful. The Epic of Gilgamesh and Lysistrata both display the complex opinions towards women of the time. In The Epic of Gilgamesh, the characters Shamhat and Ishtar provide the audience with a biased view towards women, but this work also provides a more positive opinion of women through Siduri, Utnapishtim's wife, and Aruru. As paralleled in Aristophanes’s Lysistrata, Calonice and Peace represent negative perspectives of women, but this play also portrays women positively with Lysistrata and Myrrhine. The ancient texts of The Epic of Gilgamesh and Lysistrata simultaneously depict women as inferior, equal to, and superior to men to represent the complex views of women that were present during ancient times.

Euripides and Sophocles wrote powerful tragedies that remain influential to this day. The vast majority of work recovered from this time is by male authorship. What remains about women of this time is written through the lens of male authors’ perspective and beliefs about the role of women in Greek culture. The works of these two playwrights frequently characterize women as unstable and dangerous. Agave, Antigone, and Medea are all undoubtedly the driving force behind the tragic action in these plays. It is their choices that lead to the pain and death of the people around them. Through an examination of the evidence from three separate works, Antigone, The Bacchae, and The Medea, the role of women in ancient Greek tragedy becomes clear. The actions of Agave, Antigone, and Medea repeatedly prove their characters instability and danger.

Justice and gender are put into relation with each other in Aeschylus’ Oresteia. In this trilogy, Greek society is characterized as a patriarch, where the oldest male assumes the highest role of the oikos (household). The household consists of a twofold where the father is the head, and the wife and children are the extended family. The head of the oikos is the only one who possesses the authority to seek justice. This is because the father acquires the authority through the inheritance law or male lineage. On the contrary, Greek society seems to transform to a matriarch when Clytemnestra solely murders Agamemnon because she, like primitive males, exercises destructive justice and enters the cycle

The concept of justice is manifested through the three plays of Aeschylus' Oresteia. The old tradition of justice, the private blood feud, caused an ungoverned succession of violent acts that spiralled uncontrollably. Aegisthus, Clytemnestra's lover, is introduced in Agamemnon; he desires vengeance for the plot contrived by Agamemnon's father (Ag: 1605-1611).1 Neither Agamemnon nor Aegisthus took part in this "plot" and yet as the chorus explains (Ag: 755-6)

When Medea kills her children, audiences react with shock and horror. Any sympathy viewers have built for the woman is, in the words of Elizabeth Vandiver, “undercut” by this act (15). Since Medea is the protagonist, we question why Euripides chose to make her a child murderer. Most scholars agree that he invented this part of the myth. He also lessened her role as witch by drawing attention to her human qualities. This only highlights the infanticide (14) because we cannot excuse her ruthless act as monstrous and non-human. However, Medea remains very human until after she kills her sons. Appearing at the end of the play in the deus ex machina, she takes over not only the position but also the